When enough is enough: Investigating the antecedents and consequences of information security fatigue
W. Alec Cram, Jeffrey Gainer Proudfoot, John D’Arcy
Abstract
Abstract Despite concerns raised by practitioners, the potential downside of the information security demands imposed by organizations on their employees has received limited scholarly attention. Our research focuses on information security fatigue (hereafter security fatigue), which is defined as a socio‐emotional state experienced by an individual who is tired of and disillusioned with security policies and their associated guidelines and procedures. This research delves into the security fatigue concept, investigates its antecedents and reports how fatigue affects employee security policy compliance (and non‐compliance). Since security fatigue is not well articulated in the literature and there is limited understanding of its antecedents and consequences, we take a research approach that affords novel insight into this phenomenon. Specifically, we conduct 38 in‐depth interviews with business and IT professionals, and then use a qualitative approach to construct a model, including seven research propositions, to highlight the key aspects of security fatigue. Our results indicate that four distinct antecedents contribute to security fatigue, which result in three unique consequences. We discuss security fatigue in relation to past theoretical views and related concepts within the security policy compliance literature and identify directions for future research.